BRADLEY Wright-Phillips is poised to be the next youngster to benefit from Manchester City's forward thinking.

Boss Stuart Pearce is keen to make sure that the bitter experience of seeing Stephen Elliott slip through the net to Sunderland is not repeated and that all the key kids are signed to long-term deals.

Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha have already been handed new agreements and, now that he is nearing full fitness again, 20-year-old striker Bradley could be next.

He has yet to make a Premiership start or add to the one goal that he scored at Middlesbrough last season but Pearce is understood to have seen enough in 16 substitute appearances from the Academy product to ask him to stay.

"We have addressed one or two contract issues and it is a case of ticking off the players we need to keep at the club," declared Pearce ahead of Villa's visit on Monday.

"The beauty of it is everyone I have spoken to about contracts so far, be they senior or younger players, have been desperate to stay at this club.

"We have had to rely on youngsters this season and last, so it is important that we tie them down and keep them here. There is nothing more soul-destroying than a good youngster come through the Academy and then losing them.

Important

"We had that with Stevie Elliott who went to Sunderland, and that disappoints you. It is very important to hold on to your young promising players.

"As I said we are nibbling away at the contracts, Antoine Sibierski has just signed, Stevie Ireland has just signed and David James has signed. In addition we are talking to Claudio Reyna. We have a lot out of contract in the summer but we are addressing that as we go.

"I am getting the feedback that players see this club going places and that they want to be here when it does and stay here. I have not had a player turn around and say he wants out, be that one who is playing regularly or not playing regularly. That for me means they are happy in their workplace.

"Now I have to turn that feeling of them being happy in their workplace around and say `happiness is good, I love happiness in the work place but now the pressure is on you - you have got to smash your way into that team and stay there.' "

Pearce will look for at least two new faces in the January window, at least one of them a striker after never having a full complement of hitmen available for any game this season due to injuries.

He doesn't believe that his stringent guidelines to what kind of character he is looking to bring in makes his task more difficult.

"I don't think it makes the job of getting new faces any harder," he declared.

"When you walk in the dressing room and see every one from the youngest to the most senior player acting in a certain manner, quite often you do not go against the grain in respect of that, especially when things are right for what you are trying to achieve as a squad.

"Teamwork is always my bedrock. Everyone has a fair chance including the kids like Stevie Ireland. He gets in the team he plays well and he stays in the team. That has to be the right way to do it."